Rex Van de Kamp
Dr. Rexford Van de Kamp M.D. was the well respected doctor husband of Bree and father to Andrew and Danielle. Biography Season One Rex asked Bree for a divorce during the pilot episode, stating that he could no longer "live in this detergent commercial," but the cause of their blase marriage was later revealed to be rooted in Rex's failing to ask his wife to dominate him. Due to Bree's inability to sexually satisfy him, he embarked on an affair with local homemaker/prostitute Maisy Gibbons. Rex suffered a near-fatal heart attack while sleeping with Maisy. When Rex was in the hospital Bree threatened to eviscerate him, after discovering Rex's affair with Maisy by seeing that she had signed him in at the hospital. As a result of Rex having another heart attack, the couple came to realize that they should be nice to one another in the time they had left. However, the Van de Kamp's pharmacist, George Williams, fell obsessively in love with Bree and became jealous of their marriage, strengthened by Rex's rudeness toward George. This culminated in George tampering with Rex's prescriptions. As a result of Rex not receiving the proper medication to prevent further heart complications, he suffered another heart attack and died. Rex died thinking Bree had poisoned him after all that he had put her through, especially in the past year. In Rex's final moments, he wrote a letter to her saying that he understood why she had killed him and that he forgave her. 'Season Six' As Bree looks around the home of her latest employee; Sam, she comes across a picture of Rex with a young Sam hanging on the wall. Sam confronts her about what she saw and she demands an explanation, Rex had a secret child before he and Bree began their marriage. As Bree tells Sam about Rex she realizes how much she misses him and never gets to to talk about him because she has remarried. Posthumous Appearances *Since his death, Rex has appeared in a coffin in the first episode of season 2 and in flashbacks in the season 2 finale Remember. The flashbacks included the Van de Kamps first moving to Wisteria Lane and meeting Mary Alice Young. When Bree tried to pressure Mary Alice into punishing Andrew for stealing one of the Youngs' garden ornaments, Rex assured Mary Alice, "We're not weird, we just seem like it." In another flashback, he was at the local drug store buying hair dye with Bree to get rid of purple Danielle had put in her hair. This showed Rex and Bree's on-going debate on how to discipline their children, in which Rex was much more lax than his wife. *Rex Van de Kamp took the role of narrator, much like that of Mary Alice Young, for season 3, episode 16 (the 62nd episode of the entire series) My Husband, the Pig, which focused primarily on the men of Desperate Housewives: Carlos Solis, Tom Scavo, Mike Delfino, Orson Hodge, and Ian Hainsworth. In his commentary on Orson "replacing" him as head of his family, Rex appeared hesitant but said that he had the Van de Kamp smile, meaning that no matter how bad a situation was, he could give a reassuring smile that made it appear that everything was perfect. It should be noted that despite it being unclear where Rex Van de Kamp is laid to rest, a tombstone featuring his name appeared at the beginning of the episode. *Rex also appeared in a season 5 flashback when Bree was planning to write a cookbook when he remarked she should get a job when the stove breaks down. Eventually he changes his mind when she takes it to heart telling her he'll buy her a stove. In Season 6 Rex is revealed to have a illegitimate son named Sam before he and Bree were married. 'Trivia' *Steven Culp was Marc Cherry's first choice to play Rex. When Culp couldn't do the project, due to prior commitments, Cherry hired actor Michael Reilly Burke to play Rex. When Burke didn't test well with audiences, Cherry asked Culp again. Culp was now available and went on to play Rex. *Rex and Bree Van de Kamp were both named after the overtly vain characters on two of Marc Cherry's previous failed sitcoms, The Five Mrs. Buchanans (Bree) and The Crew (Rex). Van De Kamp, Rex